European copper cycle

Source:  H. Rechberger, T.E. Graedel, 2002. The contemporary European copper cycle: statistical entropy analysis.

This is an important MFA diagram, published before the Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis, it was created by Rechberger during his post-doc with Graedel at Yale University.

The copper cycle for Europe 1994 in Gg/y (kt/y), representing an open system. The values in parenthesis give the copper flows for a scenario in which the system functions internally just as it does in practice, but does not rely on imports and exports to maintain its level of consumption.